The lack of excitement at this year’s security conference may be an indication of the industry’s maturity.

This ideal model of “baked in” security fits well with the diminished technological role of security managers who are focused on helping the business achieve its goals. “The technology piece of security is becoming part of the day-to-day operations of IT,” said R & H’s Schmidt. “It is even evident in the acquisitions we’ve seen—you know, IBM acquiring ISS, Cisco with all of its acquisitions, Google buying Postini and the list goes on.”

Even so, many in security don’t believe that specialized security technology—and the people in charge of it—will ever be completely eliminated from the IT ecosystem because threats are constantly changing. “If the problem was static, that baked-in solution might solve it, but the problem is not static,” Frost & Sullivan’s Ayoub said.

Besides, even just integrating products with built-in security isn’t as easy as it sounds, said Ed Zeitler, executive director of (ISC)2. “I don’t see security technology and security people going away for a while,” he said. “As for the integration of these built-in products, I’ll believe that when I see it. It is a lot harder to do than it sounds.”

This is, after all, why so many IT leaders and security technologists convene every year for RSA. It isn’t for the vendor pitches or the big technology reveals. It is to mingle with like-minded individuals in order to find better ways to practice security in the real world.

As one anonymous security pro told this Baseline reporter after the show, “I have to come every year just to hear about all the best practices, so I can try to put just a little bit more of these techniques in place in real life.”